We hope you have enjoyed your summer. It's hard to believe it's almost August and we will be welcoming students back to the classrooms on August 10!

We have included a lot of information in this newsletter to hopefully answer some of those back to school questions you may have. They normally will not be this long. Students will not receive their class schedule until the first day of school. However, we will be sending out letters to notify students which grade level team they are on towards the end of July. There will also be staff available at our back to school night on August 2nd to look up your student's team if you haven't received the letter by then.

The admin team sends a monthly newsletter with school information and each of our grade level teams will begin sending their Friday team newsletter to families on August 5th.

Make sure you watch Mr. Jones' "Welcome Back" message included below.

Sincerely,

Mr. Jones, Mrs. Piatt, and Mr. Taylor

• August 2: Back to School Night
• August 3 & 4: WEB Leader Training
• August 10: First Day of School
• August 19: No School for Students

Letters with students' team assignments will be mailed this week. It may take longer than usual to receive due to the quantity of mail the FCPS mailroom is handling right now. There will also be staff available at our back to school night on August 2nd to look up your student's team if you haven't received the letter by then.

Students will not receive their paper schedule until the first day of school. 6th graders will report to the cafeteria and 7th and 8th graders will report to their team area. We will have adults and WEB Leaders placed throughout the hallway to help students get to the correct area.

We are so excited to welcome our new staff for the 2022-2023 school year!

James Barrick, English Learner Teacher

Stephen Brown, PE

Ethan Buchanan, Permanent Sub

Lauren Burrows, 6th grade Science

Brian Burrus, Custodian

Anystan Cain, Attendance Specialist

Cindy Caton, 8th grade Math

Josh Cox, PE Teacher

Deborah Hodge, Arts & Humanities

Jana Johnson, 7th grade Science

Jennifer Keeton, Paraeducator

Rick Massie, Engineering/Robotics

Kristen Salas, Chorus/General Music

Lamar Williams, Behavior Specialist

Christina Zomchek, 6th grade Science

As Mr. Jones spoke about in his video message, Crawford will be a cell phone free learning environment. Our goal is to improve the climate and culture in our classrooms and on campus by eliminating cell phone distractions during the school day. If your student brings a phone to school, they will need to place it in their locker upon arrival, and keep it there through dismissal. If a student needs to contact home, they may use a classroom or front office phone. If you need to get a message to or speak with your student, you can call the school's front office number at 859-381-3370. We appreciate our families' support in this.

We will be using lockers this year and our expectation is that phones and backpacks are secured in them all day. There is a $5.00 locker fee that teachers will collect from students. Since each FCPS student is assigned a chromebook, this eliminates multiple textbooks needing to be carried. Students will be permitted to use their lockers upon arrival, at lunch (if necessary), and at dismissal. Any other times, students will need to have permission from an adult.

WEB is a year long program that welcomes 6th graders and makes them feel comfortable throughout the first year of their middle school experience. Built on the belief that students can help students succeed, the program trains a diverse group of mentors from our 8th grade class to be WEB Leaders.

On the first day of school all incoming 6th graders will participate in the WEB Assembly (Orientation). They will also participate in small group “friend-building” activities with their 8th grade WEB Leaders during the first half of the day. In the afternoon, the 6th graders will have a shortened schedule where they will rotate through their five core classes (Math, Science, Social Studies, Language Arts, and Reading). They will not have their two elective classes on the first day.

Our goal is to set our students and staff up for success this upcoming school year by focusing on the ABC's of Crawford (Academics, Behavior, and Culture/Climate/Celebrations). Before we can get to the academic component, we plan on using the first two weeks of school to focus on teaching behavior expectations, establishing relationships, and building our school climate and culture through team building and character education (social emotional learning). These first days will not look like typical school days. Our hope is that by building a positive culture and climate (having some fun), practicing school routines, and clearly teaching the behavior expectations, that we will have a successful year, where students can focus on learning.

Students are welcomed into the building starting at 8:35 a.m. Please note that students dropped off prior to 8:35 a.m. may sit on the front or back porch, however, there is no adult supervision. Upon entering the building, they will have the option to eat breakfast before reporting to their homeroom class. First period begins at 9:05 a.m at which time students will be considered tardy to school.

Crawford Daily Schedule

The lunch period is highlighted in green on the schedule and is 75 minutes with 25 of it allotted for lunch. Your child’s teacher will communicate specific lunch times with students. We also will have a 30 minute class called Academic Plus this year. This is highlighted in blue on the schedule. Students will be able to get extra help on current work during this time, work on extension activities, and participate in Social Emotional Learning (SEL) lessons.

Car riders and walkers will be welcomed into the building at 8:35 a.m. each day.

• Car riders must be dropped off on the front side of our building (the football field side). Please follow all staff directing traffic and have your student exit from the right side of the vehicle.

• Walkers may enter through the front or back entrance, whichever is closest on their route.

• When driving on campus, please drive slowly and follow directions of the staff.

Our dismissal process will begin at 3:55 p.m. Please be patient as we release smaller groups of students to the buses, cars, and to walk home to limit the number of students in the hallways.

• Car riders must be picked up on the front side of our building (the football field side). Please pull all the way around the loop, drive forward to the stop sign, and have your student enter through the right side of the vehicle.

• Walkers are dismissed last to keep them safe from the car rider and bus traffic on campus. Walkers may exit through the front or back entrance, whichever is closest on their route.

• When driving on campus, please drive slowly and follow directions of the staff.

Read our full transportation procedures by clicking the green button below.

This year the FCPS Student Code of Conduct is available electronically. We have provided the English and Spanish versions. To access, click the green buttons below. If you would like to request a printed copy from the district, you will need to click here to access the request form.

Other languages of the Student Code of Conduct are available at https://www.fcps.net/conduct.

We work with students daily on living the Crawford Creed. Please talk to your students about how they will Commit to Learning, Make Responsible Choices, and Show Kindness in and out of school.